


Girl's Night

by Vera



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Episode Tag, Episode: s02e07 Child of the Moon, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-14
Updated: 2012-11-14
Packaged: 2017-11-18 15:46:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 886
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/562722
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vera/pseuds/Vera
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ruby didn't mean to forget Belle, chained in the library with a killer on the loose. To be fair, at the time Ruby thought that she was the killer and she'd left Belle so that she could go commit suicide by throwing herself at a mob armed with flaming torches and pitchforks. Actual pitchforks.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Girl's Night

Ruby doesn't want to go over and talk to Belle. Fortunately there's a lot to do in the diner, a lot of people waiting to be served, counters to wipe down and cups to stack. Belle has a cup of coffee and a sandwich so it was okay to leave her alone. It was okay to serve the other customers. It was okay not to apologise. Yet.

Eventually everyone was served, everyone was paying attention to their companions or their food, if they were alone. Belle was alone, sitting in her booth, wetting one finger on her tongue and using the spitty tip to pick up sandwich crumbs from her plate. She'd held her hand over her cup the last time Granny had passed by with coffee, but accepted the offer of a glass of water, one she's taken small sips from so that it's scarcely one quarter gone. She has the look of someone who will find any number of things to do that aren't leaving Granny's, and Ruby can't put it off any longer.

She slid into the opposite side of the booth, long legs twisted to the side. She's wearing red boots, shiny outrageous boots that gleam where they catch the artificial light and Belle seems mesmerised by them. Ruby coughs, uncomfortable, and and Belle looks up. For a minute it's all Ruby can do to look at Belle's solemn face, her big, soft, shining eyes and her red, red lips.

"I'm sorry," Ruby says, "I'm sorry I forgot I left you in the library. I was all caught up and I thought I'd killed Billy, everyone thought I'd killed Billy." She stops because that feeling rushes back, the horror of being the cause of that nice boy's death, the ugly mess of his body, the sickly, heavy, cold smell and the utter silence of a body without a heartbeat, without blood rushing through it, without the squelches and gurgles of the busy innards of a living creature. She's stopped talking with her hands hovering over the table and her eyes wide, not tearing up, no, and all the peace and joy that her moonlight run had brought her draining away. "I'm sorry, anything could have happened to you with that crowd, I'm sorry, Belle, I'm --" and her voice breaks.

Belle reaches into the pocket of her dress and pulls something out. She opens her hand. On it lies a large, business-like key.

"Well, it's a good thing Granny left me the this, isn't it?"

Ruby grabs Belle's hand, key and all, in both of her own and makes a quiet noise, a sob maybe, or a half-formed thank you as she brings it to her cheek. She closes her eyes and allows herself to smell Belle, her sweetness, the lingering sourdough, mustard and ham of her sandwich, the cold sharp of the key, the faded smell of her nail polish volatiles. For an instant - for a fraction of an instant - she lets herself imagine Belle's fingers in her mouth, but only for an instant. Any minute now Belle will want her hand back. She feels awful that, caught up in her own grief and fear and horror, she'd left her friend chained and alone. Now, nuzzling Belle's hand seems to be entirely the appropriate response. After what seems like a long silence, when it starts to dawn on her that not everyone finds touch comforting, Belle speaks.

"I came to look for you, but you and David has already left when I arrived. Granny told me what happened and I knew we could trust you. I knew you would be safe, that David would be safe with you and that you weren't the monster you feared you were. We came back here and waited. We drank quite a bit of coffee; I haven't slept yet so you owe me a good night's sleep."

Ruby huffed and if her lips ended up a little bit closer to where she held Belle's hand, or if Belle's hand was somehow now closer to her lips that was just chance. She'd felt so very alive since last night. She had lost and found herself and though awful things had happened, it wasn't, in fact, her fault. King George was an tragic man whose losses had broken him and now he had only evil to give back to the world. Ruby had Granny and her friends. She had her wolf. Right now she had Belle's hand, and, despite her actions, it looked like she still had Belle's friendship.

"Granny's a little bit scary, isn't she?"

"Oh, she's very scary." Ruby agreed.

Belle laughed and her fingers twitched, Ruby let go of her hand quickly. The key fell to the table, ringing against the surface. But Belle wasn't pulling her hand back, she was moving closer, leaning across the table, and she was touching Ruby, her thumb against the corner of Ruby's lips and her blunt nails against Ruby's cheek, her chin, the pads of Belle's fingertips are stroking down Ruby's neck and Ruby can feel the tug on her hair as Belle gets tangled in it, sparks along her skin, Belle's hand finally coming to rest against Ruby's collarbone and the dip of her shoulder.

"I wonder if we could have that girls' night in?" Belle said.

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on Dreamwidth.


End file.
